Apparatus for supplying fuel oil to furnaces



Dec. 2, 1930. A. c. BENNETT APPARATUS FOR SUPPLYING FUEL OIL TO FURNACES Filed Sept. 20, 1928 272 Vel? for.' /hley Cfenrlet wwf Patented Dec.- 2, 1936 STATES PATENT OFFICE ASHLEY C. BENNETT, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MNNESOTA Application filed September 20, 1928. Serial No. 307,094.

10 burner so as to maintain a constant regulatable degree of temperature in the rooms heated by the furnace, to provide for thoroughly mixing air with the oil as it is being burned, and to provide for continued operation of an ing the air even after the supply of oil is shut off.

The full objects and advantages of my invention will appear in connection with the detailed description thereof, and the novel features of my inventive idea will be particularly pointed out in the claims.

1n the accompanying drawings which illustrate a practical embodiment of my invention,

Fig. 1 is a view of the apparatus mostly in central vertical section.` Fig. 2 is a detail view in vertical section showing a valve device.

Referring to the construction shown in the drawings, the numeral 10 designates a gravity feed storage tank for fuel oil. A pipe 11 provided with a shutoff valve 12 connects the bottom of the tank 10 with an intermediate portion of a valve casing 13 which will be referred to more in detail later. From the bottom of the casing 13 a pipe 14 leads into the bottom of-a depending tubular member 15 which at its upper end is screwthreaded into the bottom of a receptacle or reservoir 16. This receptacle contains a ring float 18 to which is secured an arm 20 pivoted at 22 and attached at its outer end to aneedle valve'24 whose upper end extends slidably through a cap 26 with which the receptacle 16 is provided. The lower end of the needle valve 24 is adapted to engage a valve seat 28 formed in the upper portion of the tubular member 15. `Extending up through the receptacle 16 is a tube 30 which near the bottom of electric motor which drives a fan for supply;

the receptacle is provided with perforations 32 which permit the oil to pass down a tube 34 which is screwed into the enlarged lower end of the tube 30. The lower end of the tube 34 is screwed into a hollow casting 36 secured to a support 37 and containing a valve seat 38 with which a needle valve 35 cooperates. This needle valve will be referred to in detail later. Screwed into the casting 36 below the valve seat 38 is a horizontal pipe 39 which connects with a hollow member 40 best shown in Fig. 2 and which is carried by a support 41. rlhe member 40 contains a valve seat 42 for a needle valve 43 which will be referred to later. Screwed into the member 40 below the valve seat 42 is a horizontal pipe 44. The outer end of the pipe 44 is screwed into a hollow casting 45 and communicates through a perforation in the wall of this casting with a tube 46 located within the casting and which turns upwardly and is provided with a number of branches 48 extending radially outward and the outer ends of which extend through perforations in the wall of the casting 45 so as to discharge into absorbent material 50 such as asbestos placed in an annular pocket 52- formed in a flangelike member 54 surrounding the body portion of the casting 45. Spaced above the upper end of the casting 45, there is a deflector dome 56 from which depends a multiplicity of wings 58 which extend down to the absorbent material 50 and which may be curved in an outward direction so as to give a centrifugal motion to the flame rising from the absorbent material and passing outwardly between the wings. Theflange 54 is dished and at its periphery is turned upwardly to form a vertical annular flange 60. Resting upon the flange 54, there is a vertical cylindrical member 62, the upper end of which is provided with an inwardly extending annular flange 64 upon which rests a dome member 66 having a large open center 68, this dome member being provided near its lower end with a plurality of perforations 70. It will be understood that the parts just described and carried by the casting 45 are placed inside the fire box of a furnace. The lower portion of the hollow casting is ,curved into horizontal position and is connected by a comparatively large pipe 72 with a fan casing 74 containing a centrifugal fan 76, which is driven by an electric motor 7 8. Current to the motor may be supplied from any source of electrical energy such as by connecting to the electric lighting system. The entrance into the pipe 7 2 from the fan casing is controlled by a throttle valve 80 secured to a shaft 82 to which is fastened an arm 84 to the outer end of which is secured the lower end of a cable 86 having two por# tions connected by a coiled spring 88. The upper portion of the cable 86 runs over pulleys 90 and 92 whereby this portion of the cable is deflected through 180. The end of this cable is secured to an arm 94 rotatably mounted on the casing 96 of a thermostat which may be of any well lmown or suitable construction and the details of which form no part of my invention and therefore are not described. An arm 98 is secured for rotation with the arm 94 and as shown is inclined somewhat from a right angular relation thereto. Secured to the arm 98 is a cable 100 which after being deiected by passing over pulleys 102 and 104 is secured to a coiled spring 106 which in turn is secured to the extended upper portion of the needle valve 35 previously referred to. Carried by the receptacle 16, there is a casing 108, the top of which is provided with a screwthreaded plug 110 through which the upper end portion of the needle valve 35 extends slidably. Within the casing 108 and upon the upper end of the tube 30, there is a cap 112. This cap and the plug 110 constitute adjustable stops for an enlargement 114 secured to the needle valve 35 between said cap and plug so that by adjusting the cap and the plug the limit of travel of the needle valve in both directions may be varied. Pivoted to an extension 116 extending out from the receptacle 16, there is a lever having arms 118 and 120 located on opposite sides of the pivot. The end of the arm 120 is arranged to overlie the upper end of the needle valve 24. Attached to the arm 120, there is a depending support 122 to the lower end of which a pan 124 is secured. A pipe 126 has its lower end arranged to discharge into the pan 124 and its upper end extends up into the receptacle 16 to slightly more than the desired level of oil in this receptacle. If the needle valve 24 fails to function properly for controlling the supply of oil into the receptacle 16 as for instance on account of dirt or other matter settling on the valve seat 28, the oil will then overiiow into the pan 124 thereby preventing flooding of the receptacle 16. After a suiicient amount of oil has accumulated in the pan 124, the weight of this oil causes the lever arm 120 to force down the needle valve 24 and close it. In case the burner goes out and starts to flood with oil,

the overflowing oil enters a pipe 128 tapped into the flange 54 and having its discharge end arranged to deliver into the pan 124. When a suiicient amount of oil has accumulated in the pan 124 the lever arm 120 will be depressed and close the valve 24. The extended member 116 carries a vertically disposed solenoid coil 130 across the middle of the verticalopening of which there is a horizontal partition 132. Within the coil and below the partition 132, there is a needle valve 134, the upper portion of which constitutes a solenoid core. The pointed lower end of this needle valve is adapted to cooperate with a valve seat 136 formed in the valve casing 13 between the entrance end of the pipe ll'and the outflow end of the pipe 14. Within the coil 130 and above the partition 132, there is a solenoid core 138 whose upper end is pivotally attached to the outer. end of the lever arm 118. The needle valve 43 previously referred to is extended up through a tube 140 and the upper end of this needle valve carries a laterally extending pin 142 passing into a vertical slot formed in' a connecting member 144 whose upper end is pivotally attached to the lever arm 120. This arm also carries a mercury switch 146 of usual construction having two contacts one of which is connected by a wire 148 with the solenoid coil 130. The other contact is connected to the return wire 150 of any suitable source of electrical energy. A return wire 152 having a manually operated switch 154 leads from the motor 78 to the return wire 150. A feed wire'156 having a fuse 158 and a manually operated switch 160 connects with a wire 162, one end of which is connected to the solenoid coil 130 and the other end of which is connected to the motor 78. It will, therefore, be seen that parallel circuits are provided for the solenoid and the motor. A

The operation and advantages of my invention will be understood in connect-ion with the foregoing description. When the device is functioning properly, the fuel oil contained in the supply tank 10 flows past the needle valves 1.34 and 24, and when the receptacle 16 is filled to the desired extent the float 18 causes the needle valve 24 to close and shut of the supply to said receptacle. When the float lowers, more oil is again admitted tothe receptacle 16. Oil from the receptacle 16 flows through the perforations 32 down the tube 34 past the needle valve 35 and through the pipes 39 and 44 past the needle valve 43 to the burner. At this time, current ows through the solenoid coil 130, thereby holding up the needle valve core 134 and holding down the core 138 attached to the lever arm 118 so that the mercury switch 146 is in the position shown in Fig. 1 with current passing through the two contacts therein and out through the return wire 150. Current also '6. Apparatus for supplying fuel -oil to furnaces comprising a storage tank, a burner, a pipe system connecting said tank and burner, a solenoid coil, two cores for said coil, one of said cores'constituting a shutolli' Valve for said pipe system when said coil is le-energized, a switch for the circuit of said coil normally held in closed position by the other of said cores when said coil is energized, and an overflow trip device for opening said switch by the Weight of overflow oil.

In testimony whereof I hereunto ax'my signature.

AS'mJEY C. BENNETT.

LSD 

